


A Taste Of Harmony

by NotSoHotsuin



Category: Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 2
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Comedy, First Meetings, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Music, No Spoilers, They write music together, This is so lighthearted and Daichi is so sweet-hearted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2017-07-19
Packaged: 2018-12-04 00:17:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11543442
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NotSoHotsuin/pseuds/NotSoHotsuin
Summary: Daichi is trapped with a cute and talented roommate who he really wants to get close to.





	A Taste Of Harmony

University was frustrating, especially when nobody seemed to care for him enough to make friends. The only solace he found was within his roommate, but even that was a shot in the dark. Daichi had tried his best to pique other’s interest, only for his attempts to fail time and time again. Others were busy, and even his roommate acted uninterested in him.    
  
Which was a shame, because Hibiki was the definition of pixel-perfect.    
  
His dark, smooth hair, blue eyes, and toned arms looked downright unfair. Daichi was not sure how to approach him. They only ever greeted each other when they were assigned their rooms at the dorm, and never again. Daichi kept to his own devices, writing lyrics in his notebook when he was not allowed into the music room to play the piano. He overheard Hibiki singing in there with a teacher at a point and felt more than a little guilty listening in on his session. Everything Hibiki touched or acted out seemed to make any of Daichi’s efforts pale by comparison. He really felt like he was paired up with an awesome and talented roommate, and he could not even bring himself to say a single word to him.  
  


Striking up conversation was not his strong suit. He tried doing it with a girl from a different class than him, and the best he could come up with was ‘uh, puppies are adorable, right?’ which made him bury his face in his pillow for an entire week. The advice ‘just be yourself’ never made Daichi feel confident. That was the kind of advice people with competence could follow, not people who barely understood what to say after ‘hi’.

Three weeks into their semester, and Daichi had yet to make a move that brought him a single friend. He sat at his bed and glanced in Hibiki’s direction on occasion- watching him tap away at his laptop non-stop. Daichi tried to look occupied with his headphones on, and his notebook in hand, but everything he wrote came out muddy and unclear. The melody he recorded himself playing in the music room had a good quality to it, but the lyrics just weren’t coming as fast as they used to.

When he stared at Hibiki working so diligently, he felt as if he might not belong in the same university as him, let alone the same room. They were on two completely different wavelengths. This made him feel a little disappointed with himself, but the feeling of failure helped some lyrics form to the sad medley that played in the background. His eyes eventually drifted to focus on Hibiki again. He seemed like a nice person, even if he did not talk much. Sitting still was not going to bring him any closer to friendship. Daichi used the outro as his start sign to get out of bed and walk over to Hibiki’s workdesk. This was it. The line that would swoop Hibiki off his feet and make him consider paying attention to something other than his keyboard for a while.

“What’cha doin?” He could already feel the lackluster brilliance of his sentence, and cursed himself out for the high pitched tone in his voice. “U-um…Yeah, I should go back...” Hibiki was unresponsive up until he noticed Daichi’s presence, and gently placed his fingertips around his headset to pull it aside.

“Hi?”

“Hey,” Daichi had no clue why he was waving at him, so he quickly lowered his hand and shoved it into his pocket. “-what’s up?” Every sentence must have been dripping with nonsensical drivel, because he could hear how tense he sounded. His only saving grace was hoping Hibiki did not notice. However, the melody that came from the computer quickly caught his attention, and he focused on it to try and make out its rhythm.

“I’m working on a new composition. Want a preview?” Daichi leaned in to hear the low buzz emanate from Hibiki’s headset, and a small smile formed on his lips.

“I hear violins. Gimme.” Hibiki did not have the time to test the final adjustment to the track or mute the double bass before Daichi pulled his headset off and placed it on his own ears.   
  


A violinist. Of course. Hibiki even looked the type. Everyone at the university knew how to play at least one instrument, and while Daichi never saw Hibiki play anything, he could tell only someone who knew how to pull strings could make something this emotionally moving. That was what he was getting from the song. He was not sure if he was correct or not, but that wasn’t what was on his mind. What was on his mind was whether or not the melody was going to be extended further than two minutes. 

Hibiki decided to roll the track back to the very start to give Daichi a better rundown of what the full melody was supposed to sound like, and watched Daichi’s small smile eventually form into a wide grin. Daichi drummed his fingers against the workdesk to the tune of the melody’s flow, and hummed along. Hibiki was wondering if he was making up lyrics as he was going along, because he seemed really into it. It looked like he was ready to burst into song. By the time the track reached its chorus, Daichi was beaming with admiration.

“Dude, this is so cool! I can totally rock it to this music!” Rock it. To a string quartet. The ridiculousness of his own words continued to amaze him. When his eyes locked with Hibiki’s, he grew a little worried he had said something embarrassing. It was hard to imagine Hibiki would be smiling for any other reason. He tried to tone down his excitement not to put him off.

“Oh, uh, it’s pretty good! All the instruments work. I mean, of course they work, it’s a computer not a live performance, but I mean, they work together?” The sound of his voice wavering made him only try to mask his nervousness further by digging himself into a deeper hole.

“The swooshing of the cello is really neat! Um, and the… wavy violins add a nice touch to the… f-flow.”

Daichi mentally cursed himself out for blanking on all the knowledge he had stored in his head. Information that Daichi recalled on random days when he ordered coffee suddenly escaped him when he needed it the most. The universe did not seem set on helping him impress anyone. He ended up with a really cool roommate and his first conversation with him was going to be the very last. He could see no reason why Hibiki would ever consider talking to him again unless it was to feel better about his own accomplishments or make fun. In attempt to rectify what he thought was a wreck of a first impression, he only stuttered his words out with even less confidence than before.

“I-I promise I know music terms! I normally don’t talk like this all the time! I promise, I-” When he saw Hibiki furrow his brows slightly, he panicked. “I swear I know what an octave is!” The laughter that soon followed told Daichi he might have pushed himself a little too far.   
  


Shame.   
  


This was the feeling of total and utter shame. Even if he failed to impress Hibiki, he took some comfort in knowing he had made him laugh. It was the first time Daichi heard his voice raise above a normal speaking level. He had a very charming ring to his tone.

“I’ve never seen anyone look so worried before for nothing! What did you think was going to happen if you messed up a few terms?”

“H-Honestly, I was gonna cover that hurdle when I remembered the terms. I didn’t even get that far. You’re giving me too much credit.” Daichi laughed nervously at his own mistake, but the smile on Hibiki’s face quickly calmed him down. Others often got frustrated with him if he interrupted them while they were working. They were not here to make friends after all, but to learn and educate themselves. Although, it was nice to see that Hibiki did not fully agree with that practice. 

“You had some lyrics for it, didn’t you?” The question had Daichi stumped. 

“How the heck did you figure that out!?”

“You moved your lips but no words were coming out.”

“I… I did? I’m not sure if I should feel embarrassed or shocked that you’d notice something that subtle.” The smile on Hibiki’s features widened, and he leaned back against his chair to look up at Daichi- attention focused solely on him.

“Nothing you do is subtle, trust me.”

“What do you mean?”

“There’s a mirror next to my laptop. I can see you, y’know. I know you’ve wanted to talk to me for a while. The only reason I didn’t tell you was because I was betting it would take you at least a month.” Daichi had completely glossed over the fact that while the mirror reflected Hibiki’s expression, it also gave him opportunity to stare back at Daichi without him noticing it. Daichi took a tighter grip on Hibiki’s desk and closed his eyes.

“I am not here right now. My soul has left my body.”

“Bye, Daichi’s soul. Too bad we didn’t get to collaborate on a piece together. I would have liked that.”

“I’m glad someone will mourn my- wait, what? You… want to collaborate?” Hibiki pulled the headset off Daichi’s ears to set them down next to his keyboard. There was no music playing in the background, but he was very possessive over his gear.

“I think we could make a pretty good song together.” The fact Hibiki still wanted to talk to him, or even work together on a song with him made him absolutely overjoyed. He tried to tell himself not to mess it up now that he got Hibiki interested in him. However that managed to happen still remained a mystery to him. He took notice to the small mirror, and placed his hand on the surface to have it face the other way.

“Daichi, it’s a round, two-sided table mirror.” Daichi narrowed his eyes and flipped the mirror back to its original position.

“God damn it, got played by a mirror!” The burn did not hurt so much when he heard Hibiki laugh again. Whatever Hibiki was doing to him was working wonders on his self esteem, because despite making a bunch of mistakes in his speech and actions, Hibiki never once made him feel as if he was an idiot for messing up. Not even when he was laughing at his antics.

“Do you want to go out tomorrow?” Daichi had to check the room to make sure Hibiki was not posing the question to someone else- someone more fitting. How this conversation could make anyone want another round with the Daichster was beyond him, but it was not an experience he planned on depriving Hibiki of.

“Sure! Um… what did you have in mind? Working in a more calming environment?”

“Well… we could work. Or, we could go watch the new marvel movie.”

“Oh. Oh! You mean. To the movies. Just you and me. Together. Intentionally.” Daichi was starting to consider the notion that he was trapped in an alternate reality. A better reality. The kind of reality where he could woo cute roommates to ask him out to see movies together. That reality sounded ideal, unlike this sloppy attempt at friendship. He hated how his voice got high pitched when he was excited about something. Trying to hide it only made it more telling.  
  
“Yeah! Of course! I mean, I can’t see why not.” That smile of Hibiki’s was quickly growing to be one of Daichi’s favorite expressions on him.

“Great. I’m looking forward to it.” Hibiki turned in his chair to face the monitor again, but plugged out his headset. Hibiki’s tone and posture took on a more modest approach. The change in appearance had Daichi’s mind shut down for a few seconds.

“Um, if you have time, could you help me with this segment? It’d be nice to get a pianist’s point of view.” Daichi only ever realized it was a question when Hibiki looked up at him. Those blue eyes seemed like they wanted to draw an answer out of him. This was the moment of truth. A chance for him to make a swift comeback and turn the tide in his favor.

“...A what’s point of what?” Unfortunately, such things only happened in a world where he did not mumble, and was actually capable of holding a conversation without zoning out.

“You play the piano, right?”

“Yes.” Daichi decided to keep his answer simple. Simplicity was not his strong suit, but it was the only way not to ruin the opportunity to help someone out. Hibiki moved over on his chair and patted the space beside him for Daichi to sit down.

“Can you show me?” Daichi misunderstood the sentence horribly. This was one of those sentences that sounded bad as he constructed it, during the moment he uttered it, and after it, but he could still not stop himself from sounding even more ridiculous. 

“B-but we hardly know each other...”

 

_ What is wrong with you!? _

 

He found himself mentally yelling that question again and again into the void, knowing full well that no answer would come of it. Hibiki looked confused, but not insulted. Daichi thanked the universe for taking some mercy on him by making Hibiki unaware of what he was talking about.

“Are you uncomfortable sitting close to other people?” If there was any way he could opt out of the conversation and start anew, he would take it- if not for the fact he feared of messing up even worse than he did now.

“N-no! No! Not at all! I’m good with closeness. Super comfortable with it!” He sat down next to Hibiki so quickly he almost knocked him over. “We’re good! Just listen to my v- yeah, okay, no, don’t listen to my voice, I don’t sound- anyways, um, so how’s the weather on your side of the room?” Daichi looked away when he noticed Hibiki smile at him again. He found himself smiling back effortlessly, even if he knew he probably looked skittish.  
  
“...Are you sure you don’t normally talk like this?” Daichi had no clue why he was acting shy, or why he felt the need to cover his face with his palms. None of his other attempts flunked this badly, and none of them had him stutter like an idiot with the exception of one or two girls that just up and ignored him.

“Honest to God, if I could redo this entire conversation from the start, it’d be a lot different.” Hibiki pulled away slightly to hold his hand out for Daichi.

“Alright. Let’s start anew.” Hibiki took a hold of Daichi’s hand to shake it. “Hello, my name is Kuze Hibiki. What’s your name?” It was hard not to focus on the way Hibiki took a hold of him so freely, or of the way his fingers brushed over his palm so softly that it should have been illegal.

“U-Um, uh-”

“Wow, I can tell the difference.” A warm heat spread across his cheeks, and he pulled his hand away to take a solid grip on the chair.

“You didn’t give me time to prepare!” Hibiki held back the laughter in his question.

“Do you need a script?”

“Good lyrics aren’t composed on the fly!”

“So, I guess the lyrics you made up to my song don’t hold up?”

“No, they hold up. That’s different, though.”

“Howcome?”

“Because I’m a mad lyricist that’s smooth with words! A-as long as they’re sung, I guess...” Daichi knew how ironic it sounded for him to imply he was good with words when he had trouble stringing together a coherent sentence. To his surprise, Hibiki was not laughing at him, even if his statement could be considered laughable.

“I’ll let you surprise me.” That raised the bar so high that Daichi almost wished he would have just laughed instead. Though, the expectation did make him feel warm on the inside. It was nice to know someone was giving him a chance for a change, even if he messed up horribly.    
  
Hibiki quickly turned to focus on the screen, and Daichi allowed himself to follow Hibiki’s index finger as he explained what all the overlapping instruments did and how he wanted to work a piano into the melody. He seemed to be going for some type of orchestra, which was going to be hard to pull off, but Daichi could already see a way to ease his worries. Hibiki had to control the mouse and place all the notes down manually before Daichi figured he could hook his keyboard straight into Hibiki’s laptop and work from there by playing directly into the software. The notes did not align correctly, but Hibiki dragged them into place. Daichi surprised himself by how focused he was on the composition. He was so sure he was going to mess up sooner or later, but it was almost dream-like how perfectly everything came together, and how steadily they kept conversation going through it all.

“Is this how you normally talk?” Hibiki posed the question so suddenly that it caught him off guard.

“Oh, um, shoot- was this a test or something?”

“No, but if it was, you’d get a pretty good score.” Hearing that washed all his worries away and made him smile brightly.

“Oh… In that case, I’ll gladly take any test you throw at me! Just don’t make it algebra. Not here for algebra. Really don’t wanna do algebra.”

“I hear algebra,” Hibiki chuckled when Daichi punched his arm lightly. Daichi only worried he crossed another line by being overzealous. 

“Sorry! I promise to be more calm from now on.”

“Can I take the not-so-calm Daichi with me to the movies tomorrow? I feel like he might be more fun.” Daichi’s cheeks turned rosy at the comment. It sounded like a very kind compliment, but Daichi had a feeling it might have been a little forced. The idea that Hibiki genuinely liked his rambles was one in a million, but he was willing to let Hibiki prove him wrong.  
  
“Um...sure.” Miracles could happen, but he felt like he was pushing his luck with the miracle working when Hibiki put a hand on his shoulder.

“Daichi,” He turned to look at Hibiki- an action that left him speechless. Not that he would have said anything even if the words came out smoothly. Hibiki was leaning so close it was hard to look away. When that familiar smile made itself present on Hibiki’s lips once more, Daichi pulled away just enough to accidentally slide off the edge of the chair. Hibiki grabbed onto the new space to keep himself from falling, and Daichi hit the floor uncomfortably with a high pitched yelp. Blue eyes peered down at his roommate's disheveled appearance curiously before finishing his sentence. “-uh, maybe we should take a break.”

“Already ahead of you,” He moved his forearms back to support his head as he crossed one of his legs over the other- as if to imply he had not fallen to the floor by accident, but planned on resting there. “-yep, that was my idea all along. Comfy. Not painful at all.” The lack of a carpet made his words all the more unbelievable. Daichi tried to hide the fact his hands were rubbing the back of his neck to soothe the pain. Hibiki seemed amused, if not also a tad disappointed they were not sitting shoulder-to-shoulder anymore. Daichi told himself he was being too optimistic. 

“Do you want help to get up or should I leave you to admire the ceiling?” Daichi stretched his arms before intertwining his fingers to let them rest at his chest.

“Gotta tell you, it’s a pretty good looking ceiling.” Hibiki leaned against the head of the chair with his elbow and gazed down at Daichi. He rested his palm against his cheek and hummed a reply.

“I’m certain the ceiling appreciates your affection.” Daichi wished he could utter his own words as smoothly as Hibiki did, because his voice was to melt for. He might be a skilled lyricist, but Hibiki was a fine vocalist. 

“...Are… Are we still talking about the ceiling?”

“I’ll finish this up in a bit. Wanna go grab something to eat, or is the ceiling too captivating?”

“Yeah. I mean, no! I-” Daichi stumbled on his words before clarifying himself. “Screw the ceiling! Let’s go get some food!” Food, a movie, then a long talk about why they should have picked a better movie. That was almost as good as what they did the next day. Order in, boot up a classic movie, and pretend not to cry at the sad parts. Somewhere between all the enjoyment was a pile of homework just dying to get finished.

It did not matter how many times he thought he messed up. 

Hibiki took a liking to him, and even if Daichi could not understand why, that was all that mattered.  
  
What actually coursed through Hibiki’s mind during the month of Daichi’s indecisiveness was a question that went something along the lines of-   
  
_ when is that cute guy going to ask me out already? _


End file.
